Ukraine-US talks on ending war with Russia start in Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks Tuesday focused on ending Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv , hours after Russia shot down over 300 Ukrainian drones. It was Ukraine’s biggest attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

The talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah come after President Donald Trump paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine last week, along with some intelligence sharing, in an attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war against Russia.

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel later this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly. The person cautioned that scheduling could change.

The mood across the room

Journalists were briefly allowed in a room where a senior Ukrainian delegation met with America’s top diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who smiled at the cameras and when asked about his expectations for the meeting, gave a thumbs-up and replied, “Good.”

Across the table, Ukrainian officials, including the country’s top diplomat and defense chief, showed no facial expressions as the meeting got underway at a luxury hotel. However, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak told reporters that the most important thing was “how to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” He said security guarantees were important to prevent Russia from invading again in the future.

It was the first meeting between the two sides since the Oval Office blowup between Trump and Zelenskyy last month.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was also on hand as American, Saudi and Ukrainian flags could be seen in the background. Officials did not answer any of the journalists’ shouted questions.

The delegations met for about three hours in the morning before taking a break, and officials said the talks continued in the afternoon.

There was also no immediate comment from Ukrainian or U.S. officials on the massive attack in which 343 drones targeted 10 Russian regions, leaving three people dead and 18 wounded, including three children, officials said.

Meanwhile, Russia launched 126 drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, as part of Moscow’s relentless pounding of civilian areas during the war .

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United States will inform Russia about the results of the Jeddah talks, which he described as “normal practice.”

Talks bring a chance to mend US-Ukraine relations

The meeting in Jeddah offered an opportunity for Kyiv officials to repair Ukraine’s relationship with the Trump administration after an unprecedented argument erupted during Zelenskyy’s Feb. 28 visit to the White House .

Critically, Ukraine needs to persuade Washington to end the U.S. suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing after the blowout. U.S. officials have said that positive talks in Jeddah could mean that the pause is short.

Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press on Monday that they will propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea, which would bring safer shipping, as well as long-range missile strikes that have hit civilians in Ukraine , and the release of prisoners.

The two senior officials said Kyiv is also ready to sign an agreement with the United States on access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals — a deal that Trump is keen to secure.

While traveling to Jeddah, Rubio said the U.S. delegation would not be proposing any specific measures to secure an end to the conflict but rather wanted to hear from Ukraine about what they would be willing to consider.

“I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,” Rubio told reporters accompanying him. “I think we want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want and see how far apart we truly are.”

Rubio said the rare earth and critical minerals deal could be signed during the meeting, but he stressed it was not a precondition for the United States to move ahead with discussions with either Ukraine or the Russians.

He said it may make more sense to take some time to negotiate the precise details of the agreement, which is now a broad memorandum of understanding that leaves out many specifics.

The Kremlin is sticking to its conditions for peace

The Kremlin has not publicly offered any concessions. Russia has said it’s ready to cease hostilities on condition that Ukraine drops its bid to join NATO and recognizes regions that Moscow occupies as Russian. Russia has captured nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory.

Russian forces have held the battlefield momentum for more than a year, though at a high cost in infantry and armor, and are pushing at selected points along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region , against Ukraine’s understrength and weary army.

Ukraine has invested heavily in developing its arms industry, especially high-tech drones that have reached deep into Russia .

Most of the Ukrainian drones fired overnight — 126 of them — were shot down over the Kursk region across the border from Ukraine, parts of which Kyiv’s forces control, and 91 were shot down over the Moscow region, according to a statement by Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said over 70 drones targeted the Russian capital and were shot down as they were flying toward it — the biggest single attack on Moscow so far in the war.

The governor of the Moscow region surrounding the capital, Andrei Vorobyov, said the attack damaged several residential buildings and a number of cars.

Flights were temporarily restricted in and out of six airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky just outside Moscow, and airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

沙特阿拉伯吉达——周二，乌克兰和美国的高级官员举行会谈，重点讨论结束莫斯科对基辅长达三年的战争。此前数小时，俄罗斯击落了300多架乌克兰无人机。这是自克里姆林宫下令全面入侵其邻国以来，乌克兰遭受的最大规模袭击。

在沙特阿拉伯吉达举行的会谈是在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普上周暂停对乌克兰的军事援助以及部分情报共享之后进行的，此举旨在向乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基施压，迫使其参与结束对俄战争的谈判。

据一位知情人士透露，特朗普特使史蒂夫·威特科夫预计将于本周晚些时候前往莫斯科，他可能会与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京会面。这位知情人士未获授权公开置评。该人士同时提醒，行程安排可能会有所变动。

房间里的气氛

记者们被短暂允许进入一个房间，在那里，乌克兰高级代表团与美国最高外交官、美国国务卿马可·卢比奥会面。卢比奥对着镜头微笑，当被问及他对这次会面的期望时，他竖起大拇指，回答说：“很好。”

在一家豪华酒店举行的会议开始时，包括乌克兰最高外交官和国防部长在内的乌克兰官员面无表情。然而，乌克兰总统助理安德烈·叶尔马克告诉记者，最重要的是“如何在乌克兰实现公正持久的和平”。他表示，安全保障对于防止俄罗斯未来再次入侵至关重要。

这是自上个月特朗普和泽连斯基在椭圆形办公室发生激烈争吵以来，双方的首次会晤。

沙特阿拉伯外交大臣也出席了活动，背景中可以看到美国、沙特阿拉伯和乌克兰的国旗。官员们没有回答记者们提出的任何问题。

双方代表团上午会谈约三小时后休息，官员表示下午会谈继续进行。

乌克兰和美国官员均未立即对此次大规模袭击发表评论。据官员称，此次袭击中，343 架无人机袭击了俄罗斯 10 个地区，造成 3 人死亡，18 人受伤，其中包括 3 名儿童。

与此同时，乌克兰空军表示，俄罗斯向乌克兰发射了 126 架无人机和一枚弹道导弹，这是莫斯科在战争期间对平民区进行持续轰炸的一部分。

莫斯科方面，克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫表示，美国将向俄罗斯通报吉达会谈的结果，他称这是“正常做法”。

会谈为修复美乌关系带来契机

在泽连斯基 2 月 28 日访问白宫期间，乌克兰与特朗普政府爆发了一场前所未有的争吵。吉达会议为基辅官员提供了一个修复乌克兰与特朗普政府关系的机会。

至关重要的是，乌克兰需要说服华盛顿结束美国在冲突爆发后暂停对乌克兰的军事援助和情报共享。美国官员表示，吉达会谈的积极进展可能意味着暂停期不会太长。

乌克兰官员周一告诉美联社，他们将提议在黑海地区停火，这将带来更安全的航运，停止袭击乌克兰平民的远程导弹袭击，并释放囚犯。

两位高级官员表示，基辅也准备与美国签署一项关于获取乌克兰稀土矿产的协议——特朗普非常希望达成这项协议。

鲁比奥在前往吉达的途中表示，美国代表团不会提出任何具体的措施来结束冲突，而是希望听听乌克兰方面愿意考虑哪些措施。

“我不会对他们必须或需要做的事情设定任何条件，”鲁比奥告诉随行记者。“我认为我们应该听听他们愿意走多远，然后再与俄罗斯的要求进行比较，看看我们之间的差距究竟有多大。”

鲁比奥表示，稀土和关键矿产协议可能会在会晤期间签署，但他强调，这并不是美国与乌克兰或俄罗斯进行谈判的先决条件。

他表示，花些时间协商协议的具体细节可能更有意义，因为目前该协议只是一份范围较广的谅解备忘录，遗漏了很多具体细节。

克里姆林宫坚持其和平条件。

克里姆林宫尚未公开做出任何让步。俄罗斯表示，如果乌克兰放弃加入北约的计划，并承认莫斯科占领的地区为俄罗斯领土，俄罗斯愿意停止敌对行动。俄罗斯已占领乌克兰近五分之一的领土。

尽管付出了步兵和装甲部队的重大代价，俄军已在战场上保持了一年多的势头，并沿着1000公里（600英里）长的战线，尤其是在东部的顿涅茨克地区，向兵力不足、疲惫不堪的乌克兰军队发起进攻。

乌克兰在发展其军工产业方面投入巨资，特别是高科技无人机，这些无人机已经深入俄罗斯境内。

据俄罗斯国防部声明，乌克兰连夜发射的无人机中，大部分（126架）在乌克兰边境对面的库尔斯克地区被击落，该地区部分地区由基辅军队控制；另有91架在莫斯科地区被击落。

莫斯科市长谢尔盖·索比亚宁表示，超过70架无人机以俄罗斯首都为目标，在飞往莫斯科的途中被击落——这是战争以来莫斯科遭受的最大单次袭击。

莫斯科州州长安德烈·沃罗比约夫表示，袭击事件损坏了几栋居民楼和一些汽车。

包括莫斯科郊外的多莫杰多沃机场、伏努科沃机场、谢列梅捷沃机场和茹科夫斯基机场，以及雅罗斯拉夫尔和下诺夫哥罗德地区的机场在内的六个机场，进出港航班暂时受到限制。

美联社驻乌克兰基辅记者汉娜·阿希罗娃和驻华盛顿记者阿默·马德哈尼对本报道亦有贡献。